JEDDAH — The Jeddah Administrative Court acquitted Tuesday a suspended senior official who was a former assistant Jeddah mayor and a businessman of bribery charges leveled against them by the Bureau of Investigation and Prosecution. Both men burst into tears of joy when they heard the verdict. The businessman was accused of paying SR1 million in kickbacks to the official from the Jeddah Mayoralty. It was claimed that the businessman did this to persuade the senior official to issue him a draft site plan for a piece of land he wanted to develop. The businessman had told the court several times that he had nothing to do with the land and he did not pay the official anything.
The official also denied the charges, claiming that he did sign the draft plan but only after other officials in the same department had seen and approved it. He said that he did not know anything about a license document for a car that was sent to his house and added he handed it over to the Jeddah Mayoralty right away. He said: “I have no idea if the mayoralty has retrieved the car whose license document was sent to my home. “All I know is someone wanted to frame me and get me into trouble. That's why this gift was sent to me.” The defense lawyer said the site plan was issued before the senior official started working for the mayoralty.He added the registered number for the draft plan mentioned by the BIP was different to the number recorded by the mayoralty. After continuous deliberations, the judge decided to acquit both men. This is the second acquittal for people involved in cases connected to the catastrophic floods that took place in Jeddah few years ago. The verdict can be challenged by the BIP.
